2010/07/30 by Alexander O. Averianov, J. David Archibald, Eric G. Ekdale · 11 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Bat Biology and Ecology Studies #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
paper · doi:10.1080/14772011003603499
openalex publication_date 2010/07/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Sulestes karakshi Nessov, 1985b (= Deltatheroides kizylkumensis Nessov, 1993 Nessov, L. A. 1993. [New Mesozoic mammals of Middle Asia and Kazakhstan and comments about evolution of theriofaunas of Cretaceous coastal plains of Asia]. Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta RAN, 249: 105–133. [In Russian] [Google Scholar] = Marsasia aenigma Nessov, 1997 Nessov, L. A. 1997. [Cretaceous Nonmarine Vertebrates of Northern Eurasia], Edited by: Golovneva, L. B. and Averianov, A. O. 218St Petersburg: Izdatel'stvo Sankt-Peterburgskogo Universiteta. [In Russian] (Posthumous edition by) [Google Scholar]) from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian) Bissekty local fauna, Kyzylkum Desert, Uzbekistan, is revised based on additional material from the type locality. It is characterized by an absence of palatal vacuities, double-rooted P1, an asymmetrical M3 with reduced metastylar lobe, an unreduced M4 and m4, obliquely oriented p1, anterior wall of the upper canine alveolus formed by premaxilla, and Meckelian groove on the dentary. PAUP analyses using a data matrix modified from Rougier et al. (1998, 2004) places Sulestes within Deltatheridiidae in an unresolved trichotomy with the Mongolian Campanian Deltatheridium and Deltatheroides. Oklatheridium from the Early Cretaceous of North America is sister taxon to these Late Cretaceous Asiatic deltatheridiidans. Deltatheridiidae is the sister group to other Metatheria including the crown clade Marsupialia. A Deltatheroides-like taxon from the Maastrichtian at Guriliin Tsav, Mongolia, is not related to the Stagodontidae but is sister taxon to other Boreometatheria. The North American Early Cretaceous Atokatheridium, Pappotherium, and Montanalestes are stem tribosphenic mammals, while Holoclemensia is at the base of the eutherian lineage.